從雨果《一個死囚的末日》及門田隆將《與絕望奮鬥》論死刑

• Main Author: 王美慧
• Other Authors: 阮若缺
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/y6482u

碩士 === 國立政治大學 === 歐洲語文學程碩士在職專班(MPES) === 100 === This thesis is a study of Victor Hugo’s The Last Day of a Condemned Man and Ryucho Kadota’s Fight against Despair. By contrasting the mentality of a man condemned to death and that of the family of murder victims, the thesis takes these works as a basis for reflecting on the meaning and value of the death penalty. The study looks at the nature of the guillotine in the nineteenth century, the prison environment and the physical and mental sufferings of a person condemned to death. Hugo’s writing on this topic stimulates a sensitive reflection on the death penalty. Ryucho Kudata’s account of a real event from the twenty-first century, however, provides an opportunity to understand the situation of the family of murder victims and leads us to reconsider the death penalty from their point of view. Hugo’s humanitarian concern for the condemned and Ryucho’s attention to a victim’s family over a period of nine years both show their respect for life despite their very different ideas and points of view about the death penalty. The death penalty has been around for a long time, though by now it has been abolished in most countries. In fact, protection of the human rights of criminals should not be seen as being incompatible with protection of the rights of victims and their families; the two can be reconciled. Hugo’s desire to abolish the death penalty unconditionally and absolutely had a great impact on France, yet the struggle of a victim who seeks the punishment of an offender through the use of the death penalty cannot be ignored. Both angles are helpful in exploring the issue of the death penalty.